Cream Cheese Pancakes

8 oz sour cream softened
2 lg eggs
2 c. milk
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar

Beat together until smooth

In seperate bowl mix:
2 c. flour
3 tsp b powder
2 tsp salt

Beat dry ingreadiants and wet together till smoth and cook on hot grittle. Serve with fresh fruit, powdered sugar, or whipped cream. Yummy!

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce or Soup

2 large red peppers
1 small onion sliced or chopped
3 stocks celery chopped
1 clove garlic peeled and chopped
2 table spoons butter
2 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup sour cream
1 cup sliced mushrooms
salt

Cut red peppers unto thirds and grill skin side down until well blackened. In sauce pan saute onion and celery in butter until tender. Peel red pepper and add pepper and garlic to onion and celery. Cook for a few minutes more. Add Chicken stock and blend in food processor until smooth. Meanwhile saute mushrooms in oil or butter until fragrant. Srtrain vegitable mixture if desired and place back in sauce pan. Add cheese, sour cream, mushrooms and salt to tast. Covers about 1lb of pasta.

cookies

the girls both drew pictures of cookies the other day.

Ellora drew this picture of a flower who had lost its kite. You can see the kite in the top right corner and the two lines on the left are to show which way it went (movement lines). I thought it was clever.

Chalyse pinched her finger so hard in the swings at the park that it bled from several pores. She screamed for about ten minutes. This is the picture she drew about it. Sorry it posted sideways.

"Call it 'We Are Not Doing Stuff That We Are Not 'Upposed To Do'" -Ellora

Owen:

Owen is crawling. He has been trying to for over a month but I think it was official a few days after Christmas. He is still pretty slow but it won't be long before he has full reign of the house. This morning he even climbed up the step from our den to the laundry room. He is such a Mama's boy and says, "Mama," when he wants me or if I walk in the room. He has done this for a while, but it was always hard to tell if it was volitional or not. It has been very deliberate lately, though.

Owen really enjoyed Christmas. He could tell there was something exciting going on and would get excited too. He enjoyed playing with his musical ride on train that Santa brought him and sat and played with it most of the morning.  He is such a good baby and entertains himself well. He is even content to play in his saucer for a long time while I cook dinner or wash the dishes. Last night Tom and I were playing games with the girls. Owen crawled under the small table we were playing around. It has a glass top and he sat and watched us through it. He would get excited when we would because it looked like we were all looking at him.

He does not like to take baths. He doesn't like the noise that the faucet makes and will eye it nervously. The other day when I put him in the bath he grabbed hold of me and pulled himself up clinging onto my shirt. Owen has recently been constantly blowing raspberries, both with just his lips and with his tongue out.  Sure it's cute, except for certain times, like when we're trying to feed him some baby food.

Owen is 21 lbs and is 95 % for weight and around 60 % for height

Ellora:

The big news with Ellora is  potty training.

Ellora's hair is so long and thick that people say she looks like Rapunzel (she does look just like the baby Rapunzel in the movie) but she hates to get it combed so we have to sing, "brush and brush and brush and brush my hair" while we do it. She has such a funny personality and says the silliest things all the time. The other day she said (mostly to herself), "See my eyes? They are so tired. They're gwumpy, gwumpy, gwumpy!" This morning she came running in the den with a dress that she wanted to wear. She was giggling and when she got to me she said, "This wing (the tie on the dress) poked  me. It went 'stick!'" She demonstrated by poking herself in the eye with it. It didn't poke just right so she proceeded to demonstrate several times, "It went 'stick.' It went 'stick.' It went 'stick.'"


For Christmas she got a Fur Real puppy. We named it Boppo after her imaginary friend. All Christmas morning she was feeding it fruit snacks, candy canes and cereal.

Ellora LOVES breakfast so much that she eats it as many as five times before lunch. She also loves fruit. I keep a basket of fruit on the cupboard but I will sometimes have to hide it because she won't leave it alone. Pears, bananas, apples, and oranges are some of her favorite foods.

The girls played red rover with the primary at a Christmas activity. The kids called "Red rover red rover send Ellora right over."  Ellora ran to the other side but got scared just before she got there. She turned to go back but everyone including all the moms and dads began laughing. Feeling embarrassed and not knowing what to do she thew herself down in the middle of the floor and cried. So sad but so cute.

Ellora is so TWO lately and throws quite a lot of tantrums. She can be so sweet when she has had enough sleep, but it has been a struggle to get her to sleep when she needs. Hopefully now that things are slowing down we can get every one back on a regular bedtime.

 Chalyse:

Chalyse is growing so much. She is tall for her age and I have had trouble finding her long enough shirts. She loves getting dressed and if I let her will sometimes change her clothes until she has worn every singe article of clothing. She's learning how to be so patient with her sister and often surprises me at how grown up she can act. She is also learning how to be obedient and is usually a big helper. She is learning how to write her letters a little bit. She got an electronic writing pad that shows her how to write letters. She also got Squinkies which are little squishy people and animals. She loves little things that she can collect and she likes to personify things, so these were the perfect gift for her. Chalyse likes to draw and is getting good at drawing eyes. 

Earlier, we were printing something off of the computer and it was taking a while to get it ready.  Chalyse was getting impatient, and I told her she had to wait for us to tell it to print it.  "Print," she said to the printer, but it stubbornly disobeyed. She couldn't figure out why I thought this was funny.

Cowboy Casserole

1 lb pasta
1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 med onion chopped
1 can pinto beans drained and rinsed
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can sloppy joe sauce
frozen or canned corn
grated cheese

1.Cook pasta as directed till al dente or very firm
2.Cook ground beef and onion until meat is cooked thoroughly. Add corn and pinto beans to meat and onion until warmed. 
3.Mix soup and sloppy joe sauce.
4.In a crock pot put a little bit of sauce mixture then layer pasta, sauce, meat mixture and grated cheese. Heat on low for about 2 hours or until cheese is melted. You can also cook in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 min.

Chalyse Logic

This afternoon I was struggling with Chalyse to get her to obey. She was finishing up in the bathroom and I was fighting with her to wipe and then to wash her hands. Finally she accomplished these difficult tasks and we came out.

I decided to tell Chalyse a couple of stories. The first about a boy and his Mom. They were walking around the side of a wall. The Mom was several steps ahead of the boy and came around the wall to see a vicious dog ready to attack. She called to the boy to stop and immediately he obeyed even though he could not see the danger. The Mom expressed just how grateful she was that her son had learned to obey without question.

The second story was of a boy who was out playing in the yard and heard his fathers voice calling him to come. He quickly came running to his father. His father had not called him. It had in fact been the spirit warning him that he was in danger playing near a poisonous snake. The boys life may have been saved by learning to quickly obey his fathers voice.

After listening to these stories Chalyse said, "There are no snakes in the bathroom! That's silly!" and began to laugh.



The other day Chalyse said, "Mom everyone loves me." I agreed. She said, "Dad loves me, Ellora loves me, Baby Owen loves me. But Mom you don't love me."
I said, "Of course I love you. I love you very much!"
"but you don't love me because you won't let me watch a show." 

Owen Chamberlain

Owen Chamberlain was born after a quick labor.  He was an even 8 lbs and 21 inches long.  Both mom and baby are doing great.

We never had considered the name Owen until we became pregnant.  Once we did, no other name seemed to fit.  His first name is the surname of Tom's great (don't know how many "greats") grandparents that came from Wales. 

His middle name Camille picked out several years ago after hearing her grandma tell stories about her (Camille's) Great Great Grandpa Chamberlain and what a great person he was. The night before Owen was born Camille's grandma had a vivid dream about her grandpa Chamberlian. She didn't know we had decided to use that name and was very thrilled when she found out.

His Eskimo name given to him by Patty Milligrock is Tikigaq (most closely rendered "ti-ki-awk"), the Inupiaq word for Point Hope.

Book Worm

The other day as we were getting ready for the day, Chalyse evidently didn't think that just one book was enough.  She pulled every single book off the shelf and started "reading."

Express Mail

The other day while I was skyping with Camille and the girls, Chalyse was doing one of her favorite past times: pounding on the keys on the computer.  Camille told her that if she didn't stop she would send her away (meaning into the other room).  Chalyse got excited and said, "Put me in a box and send me to Dad?  Please send me to Dad!"

Our Chalysie

Chalyse really likes Taco’s. She doesn’t care much for breakfast but likes cereal and will often ask for it at other times of the day as well. She is very good at listening to and following directions when she wants to. She is very in tune with what people are feeling and will often observe what someone is doing and talk about why or what they were feeling. She understands complex ideas about people. She is very friendly and likes to talk to the neighbors. She makes them laugh. She like telling people her name and how old she is. She loves her sister and tries to watch out for her. She occasionally still likes tackling her to the ground to show her affection. She is so good at staying in her bed and going to sleep at night and usually sleeps very well. This is so significant because she has struggled immensely with both of those all her life. She likes going to nursery but only if Mom is there too.  She gets excited when they do music time or a lesson and tries to listen very well.

Chalyse absolutely loves her daddy. Sometimes she calls him Daddio. She tells me how much she misses him every day and wants him to come home so he can hold her. She likes talking to him and Skype and can call and answers calls all by herself. She is very good on the computer and can do a lot on her own…which scares me a little. I guess I will have to keep an eye on her.  She has had a lot more energy since we got to Utah. I think the sunshine and being able to get out of the house more has done her good.

Layover in Seattle

 Like I mentioned before on our way back to Utah we had a 12 hour lay over in Seattle and were able to spend the day with our good friends Andrea, Danny and Brixton. We went to a Children's museum, had some fish and chips for lunch and walked around Pikes Place. We had a lot of fun. Here are some pictures that Andrea took.

Settling In

Our flights back to Utah went well. We stopped in Seattle for a few hours on Tuesday and spent the day with our friends Andrea and Danny and their little boy Brixton. Tom was in Utah for only 3 short days before heading back on his two day journey to the village. He made it back safe and is keeping busy with teaching, life guarding and a little more packing.

The girls and I are doing well and starting feel settled into our apartment. We are still missing a few boxes, mostly just toys but hopefully they get here soon. Like usual we are sick after traveling. We got the virus that has been going around. The cough and fever that wont seem to go away. Chalyse got it first and I think that Ellora and I are just at the beginning so it hasn't hit us too hard yet. Luckily Chalyse is usually a good sport about being sick and we haven't lost too much more sleep than usual.

My mom threw my sister Daurie and me a baby shower on Tuesday because we are both having a new gender than what we had before. It was a lot of fun and between that and trading baby clothes with Daurie I think I am almost ready for the baby. I had an other ultra sound on Monday and everything looks great. I did fail my glucose test though. It's not a big deal. I was just a little too high so I have to go back in for the 2 hour test.

Now that we are away from the isolation of the village we are planning to start a new blog for close friend and family to read. We plan to keep posting on this blog but for the more personal stories we would like to go private. Let us know if you would like to be invited to read and don't get an email from us in the next week or two.

Leaving the Arctic

Our arctic adventure has officially ended for the girls and me. I am glad to be back to what I am used to: being around family, being able to drive to the store...things like that. But I have had a lot of mixed feelings about leaving. I have been apprehensive about being with out Tom for two months again but I have also been a little sad to leave this stage of my live and enter a new one.

Living in Point Hope has definitely been a huge challenge for us. On the flip side I have learned so much about myself and about other people by being there and as a result it has become a huge part of who I am now. One thing that I noticed about the people of Point Hope is how genuine they are. They do not pretend to feel one way or an other. They act exactly how they feel. This is both good and bad but it is nice to know that when they treat you like a friend it is not just because they feel obligated to. Here are some of our friends in Point Hope who will be missed.

Gail: She taught Mandy and I how to make the traditional native atigluks.

Patty: Her daughter is around Chalyse's age and the girls enjoys having her come over and play. Patty is a lunch worker and the girls liked seeing her when we came for lunch.

Kathy and Cheryl teach in the elementary

Dorothy and Lovey are a couple of Tom's students. All the kids know Chalyse's and Ellora's names and enjoy playing with them.

Susan teaches the ECE. She is so great with the kids and has so much patience and love for them. The girls loved going to play in Susan's classroom.

Shea was one of our next door neighbors and good friends. She teaches 1st grade with help form her aid Hazel.

Here are a few teachers at the school. Debbie, Shea, and Beth.

Emily was one of our first and best friends from Point Hope. The girls just adore her. She is the one who made my parki for me. She also recently gave the girls their Eskimo names. She has lived in Point Hope all her life and grew up in the old sod homes. Tom is going to have her write down the names so we can remember them. I will post them and their meanings. 

Regina lived in our building and was always there when we needed anything. The girls also loved to visit her and her little dog Thumbalina and her cat Mo.

Emily was another neighbor and good friend. She teaches 5th grade.

Don is the shop teacher at the school. He joined us for church each week. The girls loved having him over and not just because he would bring them M&M's.